It profits man nothing to give his soul for the world… but for Wales!
Robert Bolt, playwright and Oscar-winning screenwriter
Crossing into Cardiff
It is generally agreed that the highs and lows of Cardiff fit the hallmark of any other thriving European capital. London throws up the likes of Pete Doherty and the Queen, vespa ridden Rome hooks its arms around the Vatican City, Barcelona has its heady mix of Gaudi, sea and commerce. Which begs the question, what is it that makes Cardiff Cardiff? Who are Cardiff’s hidden communities, and how do people feel about each other?
The zeitgeist of Cardiff, today full of diversity, is not as far removed from the past as you may think. In the 1930s and before Cardiff became a capital, it was dismissed as a possible location for the National Library of Wales (eventually built in Aberystwyth) because the library’s founder, Sir John Williams, considered the city to have a non-Welsh population.
In the 1997 devolution referendum Cardiff voters rejected the establishment of the National Assembly for Wales by 55.4% to 44.2% on a 47% turnout, which is a hint that even among the more established Cardiff communities, identity lies beyond a sense of pure ‘Welshness’.
Recent estimates state that around one in ten of Cardiff’s residents come from an ethnic minority community. Research by Cardiff County Council’s Cardiff Research Centre found that Cardiff’s ethnic minority community makes up around 8.4% of the city’s population, which equates to some 30, 000 residents.
The Italians are one such example. Giovanni Malacrino came to the capital from Calabria, Italy aged three – his parents were in search of work and an opportunity to make a living. He is now one of Cardiff’s most flamboyant business entrepreneurs, and has established a handful of restaurants and nightclubs including Giovanni’s , Gios, Contis and No 10 . He said:
It seems as if my parents coming here was one pebble dropped in an ocean that has caused ripples across Cardiff. In some ways I feel responsible for bringing Italy to this part of Wales.
He is quick to note however, that the secret of his success is thanks his parents work ethic and vision of a better future. John Fish, from Rumney village just outside Cardiff, is working at Cardiff’s Winter Wonderland this year. Talking about the immigrants he works with, he said:
They’d give their right arm if there was anything I was wanting off them, bar money, you know, they’re very tight fisted with money.
Hear everything John fisher said:
It comes as no surprise that economic migrants, perhaps most notably, polish migrants, have a reputation of working hard and saving.Through working, many of Cardiff’s ethnic minority communities learn to adjust to the nuances of Cardiff life.
Reynette Roberts and a small group of volunteers run Oasis, a drop in centre for asylum seekers at Tredegerville Baptist Church, Roath. Mrs Roberts said:
A lot of people I meet don’t know the British way of doing things, shopping is nearly always done in a different way. People don’t know how to use a washing machine or how to fill out forms.
But Cardiff seems well on its way to addressing these challenges. Cardiff County Council set up an ethnic minority communities programme to tackle deprivation across the city. One of its projects, directed at areas like Grangetown and Butetown, focuses on identifying and building relationships with minority communities. The aim is to promote social cohesion through gaining an understanding of community issues, experiences, needs and priorities.
But some of the problems that Cardiff faces in promoting this cohesion cannot be solved at a local council level. Salim, an Iraqi national has been refused asylum having lived in Britain for six years and worked in Cardiff as a dentist for three years. The Home Office believes it is safe for him to go back to Iraq, but he believes it is not. He has been visiting Oasis which has provided him with essential contact with a wider Cardiff community as well as informing him of options available and helping him with paperwork.
But Mrs Reynolds is dedicated to building up a community around Oasis which sees 40-100 people pass its doors every week. She hopes that one day they will have their own building and that it will remain open all the time. The centre holds English skills sessions to help people integrate with the wider community. As long as there are concentrated efforts to create a city that embraces everyone, Cardiff’s soul seems to be intact.
Just north of Cardiff Bay the Huggard Centre for the homless is also tackling the problem of social exclusion. Chief executive, Richard Edwards, addressed the crowd at the yearly Huggard Centre Sleepout a week ago with the following words:
Handouts alone will not provide a step up. At Huggard we know this. In November this year we again opened our winter emergency shelter and accommodated 54 diferent people who would have otherwise been forced to sleep rough in one of the windiest and wettest Novembers on record … But much more importantly then all of this is that Huggard seeks to engage with people. We help individuals to recognise, address and overcome barriers that prevent them from breaking the cycle of homelessness.
Engagement seems to be the key to Cardiff’s soul. In the eyes of the people from the Welsh capital, there’s only one answer to the question “Are you in, or are you out?” – out isn’t it.
My bed on the Huggard Sleepout
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